


Footraces and Battleships

by myth_taken



Series: Who Needs Magic When We Have High School [4]
Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-24
Updated: 2016-11-24
Packaged: 2018-09-01 21:09:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,066
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8638135
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/myth_taken/pseuds/myth_taken
Summary: Buffy and Faith get roped into doing childcare together. It goes... surprisingly well, actually.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Faith backstory: she hitchhiked from Boston to California after her (alcoholic, abusive) mom died when she was thirteen, trying to get as far away as possible. She wound up in Sunnydale, where she was homeless for a few weeks, making generally bad life choices until Angel found her and convinced her that there was still hope for her. He then convinced his parents to adopt her, so now she goes to Sunnydale High and has the world's best and broodiest adopted brother.

Buffy was shoving through the masses of people in the halls on her way out of the building when Principal Snyder managed to corner her.

“Oh, look, we have a volunteer.”

Buffy tried to skitter away, but Principal Snyder was locked on to her. “Volunteer for what?” she asked. “Also, not to be rude or anything, but isn’t this kind of against the concept of volunteering?”

Principal Snyder fixed her with a harsh glare. “Tomorrow, there is a meeting for the parents of the students in the choir to discuss a class trip. We are in need of childcare for the younger siblings of said students. I have decided that you are somebody in need of extra… encouragement when it comes to your behavior.”

Buffy’s mouth fell open in shock. “ _I’m_ in need of extra encouragement? Have you even _met_ Cordelia?”

“Fortunately for you,” Principal Snyder said, “we have determined Miss Chase to be a lost cause. You, on the other hand, display many of her traits, such as self-absorption and irrationally high heels.” His lips curled into a smug smile. “However, you may find a familiar face at the event.”

—

“He’s making you do _what_?” Willow asked, her voice rising far above the pitch that was generally acceptable for a library. She glanced over at the librarian’s desk. “Sorry, Mr. Giles,” she called out.

Mr. Giles looked up at her. “Oh, do go on, Willow. Goodness knows no one else is in here, and I do need some entertainment to round out my day.” His voice was really just comically British.

Buffy ignored the distraction. “He wants me to run childcare. I mean, have you ever _seen_ me with a child?”

Willow shook her head.

“There’s a reason for that,” Buffy said. “And it’s because I’m bad at dealing with them. I mean, what do I do? Talk to them with little words and hope they like me?”

“Don’t be so condescending,” Willow said. “Anyway, they won’t be that young. Most siblings of high schoolers are closer to Dawn’s age.” At the panicked look on Buffy’s face, she put her hand on Buffy’s shoulder. “You’ll be fine. Don’t worry, Buffy.”

—

When Buffy got to the gym, which had been stocked with games, books, coloring pages, and movies in advance of the impending children, she found that the “other familiar face” had yet to arrive. That was all right; she was early, after all. She hadn’t had anything else to do that evening, and anything beat writing about Hamlet’s latest rambling soliloquy of angst for English. The kid was worse than _Angel_ for brooding, and Angel was the worst for brooding.

There were no kids yet, so Buffy wandered over and perused the game shelf. It was pretty much just classics like chess and Battleship, with a few decks of cards thrown in for good measure. Buffy grabbed a deck and tipped the cards into her hand, laying them out for a game of Solitaire. If she was going to wait, she might as well not be bored while she did it.

She had just given up on her first game when the door to the gym opened. In walked a figure with leather pants, a tight maroon shirt, and an uncontrollable smirk on her blood-red lips.

Buffy stood up. “Faith.” She hadn’t talked to Faith since her first day at Sunnydale High, but she was pretty sure Faith didn’t like her. It was mostly just a vibe she got. Then again, Willow had told her that Faith didn’t really like anybody, and Willow had probably heard that from Angel, who knew Faith better than anyone.

“Hey, Buffy.” Faith waved. “Thought you were a goody two-shoes. What’d you do to get Snyder all up in your business?”

“Dressed like Cordelia, apparently.” Buffy looked Faith up and down. “You?”

Faith grinned. “Dressed like Faith, I guess.” She held up her hands. “Didn’t break any rules, I swear. My bad girl days are over.”

Buffy shrugged. “I hadn’t known they had begun.”

“That’s probably best for the both of us,” Faith answered, and she came closer to the game shelf. “This what we’ve got to entertain the brats?”

“Looks like it,” Buffy said. Maybe she had been wrong about Faith not liking her. Everything was more or less fine so far, at any rate. She looked up. “Ooh, and speaking of the kids, here one comes.”

The kid in question was a tiny girl in about fourth or fifth grade, holding hands with someone older. As the pair got closer, Buffy realized that the someone in question was Willow’s new friend, Tara.

“Hey, Tara,” Buffy called. She moved closer to the door. “Thought your parents didn’t approve of the performing arts.”

Tara shook her head. “M- my dad didn’t want me to come,” she said. “B- but I raised the money a- all by myself.” She shrugged, looking down in an embarrassed smile. “My mom couldn’t come either.”

“I’m glad you get to go,” Buffy said. “We’ll take care of your sister just fine.” She bent down to the girl, who immediately hid behind her sister’s back. Buffy straightened up. “I scared her.”

“Sh- she’s very shy.”

“Not like you at all, then,” Buffy joked.

Tara smiled again. “I— I was worse.”

Buffy bent down again, peeking around Tara at the sister. “Hey, what’s your name?”

The girl peeked out at Buffy, her eyes wide. “Laney,” she whispered.

“Short for Melanie,” Tara explained.

“I like that name a lot,” Buffy said. “Do you want to play a game, Laney? You can play all by yourself if you want. Or you can read a book.”

Laney slowly came out from behind Tara. She nodded, and she allowed Buffy to lead her over to the bookshelf.

As Buffy helped Laney find a book, she noticed Tara watching for a couple extra seconds. Soon enough, though, Tara was gone.

They got four more kids, all of them middle schoolers. Buffy checked her watch and noted that the meeting had started, then went and sat next to Faith, who was watching the room from the wall. Laney was reading, two others were racing each other across the gym, and the remaining two had sat down to a game of checkers.

“Should’ve brought my sister,” she said. “She might have found some friends.”

“Sure she would’ve, B. And I met my closest friend at a Walmart.” The boys who had been racing each other had stopped and begun an argument about who had won. Faith stood up. “Hey, stop that!” She walked over to the boys, both seventh graders. “No one’s won until they’ve won against me.”

Buffy giggled. Faith looked back at her and winked, then led the boys to their makeshift starting line, which was at one end of the gym.

Faith called out to Buffy. “Hey, B, you wanna ref?”

Buffy stood up and leaned against the wall. “Yeah, sure,” she yelled back. “What do I have to do?”

“Just do the ready set thing, and then watch us so no one can cheat.”

Stepping forward, Buffy cried, “Ready!” Faith bent down, touching the ground. The boys on either side of her looked at her, then decided they might as well do that too. “Set!” Three heads went up, eyeing the finish line. Buffy grinned as she called out, “Go!”

They were off. The race was short; the gym wasn’t that big. Faith easily sprinted ahead, and the two boys strained to catch up. Then, Buffy watched Faith slow down, obviously on purpose, and both boys pulled ahead. They both reached the finish line at roughly the same time, but they finished before Faith, and soon they were both running up to Buffy, clamoring to know who won.

“None of that,” Faith said, coming up behind them. She gave Buffy a bemused look. “I said no one’s won until they’ve beaten me, and you’ve both beaten me, so I guess you’ve both won.”

The boys looked at each other, then back at Faith.

“That’s not real,” one of them said.

“Ask your ref,” Faith said. The boys turned back to Buffy.

“Sounds about right to me,” Buffy said. She held up both hands. “High fives, both of you.” She made sure her hands were slightly above the boys’ reach, so they each had to jump up to high five her.

That settled, the boys went over to the game shelf and immediately pulled out Twister.

“Five bucks says that ends badly,” Faith said.

Buffy laughed. “Let’s cross that bridge when we come to it.” She surveyed the room. Everything was peaceful again. “Don’t suppose you want to play Battleship.”

“Can’t hurt,” Faith shrugged. “Never played, though.”

Buffy raised her eyebrows. “Really? Angel’s never dragged you through a game?”

“Angel prefers Monopoly,” Faith answered. “Which, by the way, never let a guy who likes Monopoly adopt you as a sister.”

“Advice taken.” Buffy went to the shelf and pulled out the Battleship game. She dropped it on the floor, jumping when all the pieces inside clattered. She got down on her stomach and set it up, explaining what she was doing to Faith, who immediately started setting up her own board.

It turned out that Faith was _vicious._ Not only did she play well, but she played _competitively_. When she sank one of Buffy’s ships, she got up, turned around so that she wouldn’t see Buffy’s board, and did a victory dance.

“You know that if I can’t see you, the dance is wasted?” Buffy finally asked, after the fourth one.

Faith sat down. “Didn’t say it was your face I wanted you to watch.”

Buffy blushed. “E5.”

“Ha! It’s a miss.” Faith grinned.

Buffy looked up. “Hey, Faith?”

“You distracting me from my big win?” Faith asked, grinning.

“No, I mean, I just remembered something. How come you got all angry at me the first day of the semester?”

Faith tilted her head, remembering. “Oh, that. I just like fighting my own battles. No hard feelings.”

“Sorry, then,” Buffy said. “Still, if you ever need me to punch Cordelia, let me know.”

Faith grinned. “Noted. F9.”

Buffy started to curse, then remembered the kids and cut herself off. “Hit.”

It only took a few more moves for Faith to win, and she jumped up and gave the biggest victory dance of all, this time facing Buffy, who sighed and started taking apart her board.

Just then, a parent came to the door. Their kid noticed them and ran up to them, Buffy following after, mostly to say the usual, “Yeah, everything was fine.”

The other parents followed soon after, leaving Buffy and Faith alone with Laney. They looked at her, then at each other, and decided to leave her where she was. Tara was responsible, she’d come back.

And come back she did.

“S- sorry,” she said. “I— I was talking to our director.” She peered around Buffy and Faith. “Hey, Laney?”

Laney jumped up and ran to Tara. “I don’t want to go home,” she said. “I like it here.”

Tara nodded. “I know, sweetie. But we have to go home. That’s where the bed is, remember? We have to sleep. And no one can hurt us while we’re asleep.”

“They can in our dreams,” Laney said.

Buffy looked at Tara. “Are you guys okay?”

“Y— yeah,” Tara answered. “J— just— it’s h- hard for her to sl- sleep.”

Buffy looked down at Laney. “Okay,” she said, but she made a mental note to talk to Willow.

Finally, Tara and Laney left, and Buffy and Faith remained to put away the games. When they were done, Faith straightened up. “So, what’s a girl gotta do to get another girl’s number around here?”

“Ask?” Buffy replied.

“Okay. What’s your number?” Faith grinned. “See how I asked all cool like?”

Buffy laughed. “Do you have any paper?”

Faith looked around and finally snatched up a Disney coloring page. “Sure I do.”

Buffy grabbed a crayon and scrawled her number across the page. Faith did the same on another page, and they swapped.

“Don’t let my sister talk to you for too long if she answers,” Buffy warned.

“If Angel answers and he tries to talk for too long, you’d better let him,” Faith answered. “Guy is seriously repressed.” She sailed out the door. “Bye, B.”

Buffy stared after her. “Bye… F?”

**Author's Note:**

> this is setting up tara stuff that'll be in the next one i write i think... i just have to rescue tara from her dad :-(


End file.
